From the Ethics of Acting to the Empire Without Signs

Paper Abstract: Founded in Dakar in the mid 1970s, Laboratoire Agit'Art was a collective of artists, writers, and performers who blurred the boundaries between art, politics, and philosophy. Rejecting conventional artistic forms, the collective developed practices centered on impermanence, collective authorship, and radical expression. Drawing on diverse influences—Marxist philosophy, European avant-garde theater, and both African and Asian traditions—Laboratoire Agit'Art challenged established models of artistic ownership and critiqued the institutionalization of art in post-colonial Senegal.
This presentation examines the collective’s manifesto, From the Ethics of Acting to the Empire Without Signs, co-authored by Issa Samb and Youssoupha Dione in the 1980s. The manifesto advocates for silent, body-based performance inspired by Mahamudra Buddhist teachings. Its emphasis on gesture and mimicry as the primary means of expression had a lasting influence on the collective’s artistic practices and pedagogy. By placing the collective’s work within the context of cross-cultural exchanges—particularly the intersections of African, Asian, and European avant-garde influences—this paper explores how Laboratoire Agit’Art’s deconstruction of language resonates with theoretical challenges posed by figures such as Antonin Artaud and Roland Barthes, both of whom engaged with Asia to inform their own ideas.
Focusing particularly on Barthes’ Empire of Signs, this paper explores how his critique of Western semiotics—through his engagement with Japan—parallels Laboratoire Agit’Art’s critique of Senghor’s Négritude, especially as expressed in his poem Chaka (from Ethiopiques). The collective’s gestural performance of Chaka—entirely devoid of speech—rejects Senghor’s essentialist views on identity and language. Instead, it embraces a form of expression that subverts the notion of fixed cultural and linguistic identity, aligning with Barthes' challenge to rigid systems of meaning and Laboratoire’s continued practice.